The interrelationships of vitamin E and vitamin A in the maintenance of retinal structure were studied in rats deficient in both vitamins. After 35 weeks, vitamin E deficiency resulted in a 16% loss of photoreceptor cells; vitamin A deficiency resulted in a 30% loss; whereas combined vitamin E and A deficiency resulted in a 90% loss. This accelerated retinal damage in doubly deficient (-E, -A) retinas probably resulted from accelerated oxidative loss of tissue vitamin A when the antioxidant effects of vitamin E were missing. The pigment epithelium of -E, +A rats has massive accumulations of lipofuscin granules (aging pigment). However, in -E, -A rats the pigment epithelium had much less lipofuscin than expected, perhaps because vitamin A is involved in lipofuscin formation directly, or because it influences phagocytosis of photoreceptor membranes which become peroxidized to form lipofuscin. In summary, the roles of vitamins E and A are closely linked in the retina. The lack of either leads to irreversible structural damage and the lack of both accelerates the damage and results in unusual aging pigment formation.